BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Brandeis University women's basketball team erased a 15-point third-quarter deficit, and senior Lulu Ohm (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter tonight to defeat host Bridgewater State, 70-64, to close out the fall 2024 semester.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis, 5-4.
• Bridgewater State, 7-2.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Judges struggled offensively in the first half, shooting 30.7% from the floor (8-26) and just 14.3% from 3-point range (1-7), while the Bears hit 37.8% (14-37) overall and 44.4% from downtown (4-9).
• BSU held an 18-13 lead after one quarter and a 37-25 lead at halftime. The Bears' Kylie Grassi led all players with 13 points at halftime, while Brandeis's Ohm had seven points to top the Judges.
• Grassi opened the second half with a 3-pointer to give Bridgewater State its largest lead of the game, 40-25.
• Brandeis quickly cut into the deficit by scoring eight the game's next 10 points on a 3-pointer and lay-up by junior Abby Kennedy (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) and an Ohm trifecta that made it 42-33 with 7:28 left.
• BSU's Jessica D'Amours hit a lay-up on the Bears' next possession, but the Brandeis defense was stout for the rest of the quarter, holding the home team without a field goal (0-7) and forcing three turnovers the rest of the way.
• The Judges clawed their way back into the game by hitting 8-of-9 from the free throw line, taking their first lead since 4-3 when Kennedy closed the period with a traditional three-point play to give Brandeis a 53-51 lead.
• Bridgewater State opened the fourth quarter by scoring the first six points, taking a 57-53 lead on a pair of Lexi Thompson free throws with 7:52 on the clock.
• Brandeis knotted things up at 57 on a Kennedy bucket and again at 59 on an Ohm jumper, the last with 6:11 left in the game.
• The game was nearly scoreless for the next three minutes until BSU's Jordan Peebles scored with 3:28 to go, giving the hosts a 61-59 lead.
• Ohm answered with a straight-away 3-pointer on the next possession, putting Brandeis back on top, 62-61, at the 3:09 mark.
• Grassi hit 1-of-2 from the line just 21 seconds later to tie things at 62-all, but Ohm dialed long distance again with 2:23 remaining to give Brandeis the lead for good.
• Both teams made defensive stops on their next three possessions, with Brandeis first-year Saviah Shabazz (Plano, Texas/Plano West) grabbing a pair of key rebounds in the stretch, allowing Ohm to make it a two-possession game on a jumper in the lane with 21 seconds to go.
• The Judges converted on three of their last four foul shots to keep the game under control.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Ohm led all players with 24 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter. She hit 7-of-20 overall, 3-of-8 from 3-point range and 7-of-9 from the line.
• Ohm was 4-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-3 from long distance and from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
• Kennedy added 18 points for the Judges, including 11 during the key third period.
• The Judges also had a major rebounding advantage over the Bears, 51-33. Junior Katherine Vaughan (Bedford, Mass./Bedford) led the way with a game-high 11 boards, her second double-digit rebound game of the season.
• Shabazz had a career-high eight boards, while senior Brooke Reed (Chantilly, Va./Westfield) also grabbed eight caroms.  
• Vaughan added two assists, two blocked shots and a steal. Her assists were tied with sophomore Claire Candela (Maynard, Mass./Milton Acad.) for team-high honors.
• BSU's Grassi led the home team with 23 points, scoring seven each in the first and third quarters, but no other Bear player reached double figures.
• Arielle Cleveland led Bridgewater State with eight rebounds, while Kylee Piche had seven. They tied with Haley Burchhardt for game-high honors with three assists. Mairead Gallagher had six steals for the Bears off the bench.
• This was the first meeting between the Judges and Bears in the last four that was decided by more than one point.
• The Judges snapped a seven-game winning streak for Bridgewater State, while earning their first back-to-back wins of the campaign.

UP NEXT

• The Judges are off until 2025, taking on Clark University on January 4^th at 3 p.m.